Reading material

Fri, Apr 3, 2020, 00:04

Sir, – I know how I will spend a good deal of my time in the next few weeks. I will attempt to read all the books I have kept over the years, promising I would read them someday. I have books given to me as presents, books I inherited, books I have bought over the years, determined to read them some day, and books I have read and reread and will read again. But where to start? Do I start with funny books like Mervyn Wall’s The Unfortunate Fursey? Sad books like Richard Power’s The Hungry Grass? All the books written about the Blasket and Aran Islands? Books written in moving prose or books about happy and unhappy families? So much to choose from.

Yesterday I put on my woolly hat and warm coat and sat in my tiny back garden reading, so I got the fresh air as well. I will continue to cook three meals a day for myself, and I might do a little genteel housework in between times. – Yours, etc,